Newcomer No More
by Blackrose715378
Summary: Team Steel encounters an old friend in an unlikely place. Complete.
1. Voices

Disclaimer: I don't own Max Steel...that is until I break into the studios of Foundation Imaging and those other places and hold the CEOs hostage until they agree to sign over rights to me. Then I shall create my own television channel that only shows Max Steel 24/7 and Max Steel fans all over the world shall build shrines in my honor. MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH! Um...ahem.  
  
A/N: I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Well, I have been prompted by my two readers to write a Part 2, so voila! Note that I have changed the format, so it's easier to read, and I have finally noticed that the italics do not seem to work on this website, so I too will be resorting to putting words between 's when I choose to emphasize them. And by the way, I'm trying to keep this fic in canon as much as I can, so when I get facts wrong, DO NOT HESITATE TO CORRECT ME!!! Hope you like this one as much as the last one!  
  
"Steel! He's coming to you! Get ready!" Kat Ryan yelled as the bank robber she had been pursuing managed to get onto his motorcycle and started speeding away from her.  
  
The female N'Tek agent watched as the criminal unwittingly traveled closer and closer to where her partner, Max Steel, was hiding. The motorcycle was still starting up, and wouldn't be going fast enough to avoid Max when the criminal encountered the super-powered spy.  
  
Ok, Max told himself, hearing the roar of the approaching vehicle, I'll wait until he's three feet to my left, and then I'll jump on him.  
  
"Okay, hermano, he's twenty feet away...eighteen feet...sixteen feet..."  
  
Then another voice began speaking in Max's head. The scientist's voice was still there, but it had faded into the background. Max could hear what it was saying, but he didn't seem to care anymore.  
  
'What are you doing?" the new voice asked softly, calmly.  
  
"I'm going to catch the villain," Max replied simply.  
  
"I know you are, hermano, that would be what we've been planning to do from the beginning," Berto's voice sounded puzzled in the back of Max's head. Max wasn't concerned. He was paying attention to the other voice.  
  
"Why are you so intent on capturing this so-called villain, Max Steel?"  
  
"He stole money that wasn't his."  
  
"So? Politicians do that all the time, and they're running the country. If stealing is so bad, why aren't you chasing after them as well?"  
  
Max didn't have an answer to this. He was confused. The voice was right. The very government that indirectly employed him also committed the crimes that he was assigned to stop.  
  
"I don't really know," Max admitted in a perplexed tone of voice.  
  
"What? Max, why are you talking to yourself? You're supposed to be paying attention to the guy on the motorcycle, remember?"  
  
The small voice in the back of Max's head was fading. It didn't matter. It didn't concern him. He was too busy contemplating the argument at hand, with the clearer voice in his mind's foreground.  
  
"Well, if you're just following orders without understanding why, what makes you so much different then, say, John Dread's minions?"  
  
"I AM NOT LIKE ONE OF JOHN DREAD'S MINIONS AND I WILL NEVER BE!"  
  
"Max? What is wrong with you? Who are you talking to?"  
  
"Well, if you're not just a minion, a follower, why don't you make up your own mind as to what orders to obey."  
  
"Yeah, I'll make up my own mind."  
  
"Max, dammit! The guy on the motorcycle is coming! You're gonna miss him, Max!"  
  
"This man is probably just trying to get money to help his family eat. What is so wrong with that?"  
  
"Nothing," Max said, shrugging.  
  
"MAX! SNAP OUT OF IT MAX! HE'S SIX FEET AWAY FROM YOU! YOU'RE GOING TO MISS HIM IF YOU DON'T SNAP OUT OF IT RIGHT NOW!"  
  
"Okay then," the voice continued smoothly, "why don't we just let this man go on with his business?"  
  
"All right."  
  
"MAX! MAX! MAX! MAX! MAX! MAX! MAX! MAX!!!!" That last one was accompanied by a sharp pain in Max's ears as deafening static filled them.  
  
"OW!" Max yelled and snapped out of his trance-like state just as a black motorcycle zoomed by. Max didn't make a move for it. He was too dazed.  
  
"STEEL, DAMMIT!"  
  
Max felt someone push him, and the next thing he knew he was sitting on the ground. The jolt of hitting the concrete, hard, woke him all the way.  
  
"Huh? Wha-"  
  
Kat wasn't done with him. She kicked him in the leg. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! I WAS FIGHTING WITH HIM FOR TWENTY MINUTES AND I FINALLY SET HIM UP PERFECTLY AND YOU COLDN"T EVEN DO THE SIMPLEST OF JOBS!!"  
  
It had been a while since Max had seen Kat so mad. He guessed he did deserve the kick in the leg though, the guy they were supposed to have captured had twisted Kat's right wrist around during the fight, and it had been difficult to fight with only her left hand for twenty minutes. Because of this disadvantage, the creep had gotten some good shots in. Now Max had let their quarry get away, ad she had nothing to show for her pain.  
  
"Max?" Berto asked cautiously. "Are you...there now?"  
  
"Yeah, of course I'm here, what do you mean?" Max replied, rubbing his shin where Kat had kicked him.  
  
"Martinez, can't you zap him with that bio-feedback thing?" Kat whined, holding her right wrist gingerly.  
  
"Already did, Kat."  
  
"Yeah, thanks for that," Max added sourly. It had only been a brief second, but it had been unexpected, and still hurt.  
  
"Hey, don't blame me, Max, you zoned out! I was calling you for two whole minutes and you were just sitting there...talking to yourself."  
  
Kat was tapped in to Max's biolink during missions, so she heard Berto talking to Max.  
  
"Talking to himself?" she asked, eyebrows raised.  
  
"Yeah, weren't you listening?"  
  
"Well I was kind of occupied." She waved her wrist in front of Max's face so berto could see what she was talking about. "Why were you talking to yourself, Steel?"  
  
"I wasn't talking to myself, I was talking to..."  
  
Kat stood in front of him, her arms crossed. When Max's voice trailed off and he refused to give her an answer, she took hold of his arm with her good hand and pulled him to his feet.  
  
"Let's go, Steel. I think it's time we had a Team Steel meeting. You, me, Berto, Rachel, and your dad."  
  
Max groaned.  
  
Ok, maybe not the best of chapters, but I wrote it, didn't I? And now you have a clue as to what Dread and Abigail were talking about at the end of The Newcomer. I think this title is a little bit better than The Newcomer, but I'm open to suggestions. By the way, Akili-chan, you get my emails, right? I use the address given on your profile, but I don't know if you still use it. Just want to make sure. Ciao! 


	2. A Little Chat

_A/N: Ok now, if this thing is working like the website says that it's working, this should be in italics. If it isn't, then ARGH! Ok, on with the chapter. _

Chapter 2

Berto, Kat, and Max sat in Jefferson Smith's office as Smith and Rachel read the reports of the days failed mission. The two senior agents looked up from time to time to glance at Max, who didn't meet their eyes. Kat and Berto sat there in silence, both staring at him, Kat with a tan ace bandage on her wrist. She had refused a sling. Max sat leaning forward in his chair and stared at the floor. He had no idea as to how he was going to explain this one.

Finally finishing the mission log, Smith glanced at Rachel who had finished hers a few seconds before. She gave Max a quizzical look and then looked back at her boss and shrugged.

Smith sighed. "Max, have you been getting enough sleep lately?" Agents lacking sleep often lost their concentration easily, and it was the most obvious cause he could think of.

"No," Max mumbled.

"Have any recent problems been popping up in your daily life or with your job?"

Max lifted his head and stared at Smith.

Smith felt like hitting himself with the mission log. "Sorry. Almost forgot who I was talking to. It's been a long day." The man stood there and watched as Max dropped his gaze back to the floor. Rubbing his temples, he looked at Berto. "Martinez, any idea?"

"I'm just as in the dark as you are, sir."

Kat stood up. "Well, I want answers." She kicked Max in the shin again. "Steel, what held your attention for such a long period of time and made you blow the mission?"

Rachel Leeds and Jefferson Smith looked at each other. No one had been able to get an answer out of Max so far, so they were willing to let Kat try for a while.

Max looked up at Kat, rubbing his shin. "I was...tired." He answered lamely.

Berto cleared his throat, and spoke, trying to ignore Max's murderous stare. Max knew what he was going to say. Since he knew it too.

"Martinez, talk." Kat moved herself between Max and Berto to shield Berto from their partner's influence.

"Well, at first I _did_ think Max might've dozed off and was talking in his sleep, so I looked at his t-juice levels...which were full. He had been recharged before the mission."

Kat, who seemed to have taken control of the situation paced back and forth in front of Smith's desk, looking like a lawyer in some courtroom scene. "Which means," she started, "that Max wasn't the least bit tired, and according to his t-juice levels, should've been fully awake and energized."

"Hold it a minute," Rachel Leeds spoke for the first time in the conversation.

Max groaned, knowing exactly what hadn't escaped her hearing.

"Shut it, Max."

Kat made the sound of a whip cracking, ignoring the 'when-we-get-out-of-here-I-am-so-going-to-kill-you' look from Max.

"Berto," continued Rachel, "you said you first thought Max was talking in his sleep?"

"Yeah, until I saw his t-juice levels."

"Well, what did you think after you decided it wasn't sleeptalking?"

"Is that even a word?" Max asked, stalling.

Everyone ignored him except for Jefferson, who hadn't taken his eyes off his son since Rachel started talking.

"I thought that maybe someone was either in stealth mode or just not in my view and was talking to him. He made a reference to Dread at some point. But even if he was talking to someone else that I couldn't see, that still wouldn't explain why he refused to answer or even acknowledge me."

Max remembered the 'reference to Dread'. _I AM NOT LIKE ONE OF JOHN DREAD'S MINIONS AND WILL NEVER BE!_

Rachel turned to Max. "Max, why did you fail to answer Berto?"

"I didn't hear him," he lied.

Jefferson stood up. He had had enough at this point. "Okay, everyone out."

Max was the first to stand up, and tried to get to the door as quickly as he could when Jefferson said "except for Max."

Max groaned again and stood there, shooting evil looks at Kat and Berto as they walked past him. Berto looked at him strangely, but Kat just stuck her tongue out at him.

Jefferson waited until Rachel Leeds disappeared through the doorway. He gestured to the seat closest to his desk. "Sit down."

Max sat.

"Now turn off max mode."

"What?"

"Turn it off."

Max hesitated, then pushed the button on his biolink, and changed back into Josh McGrath. He slumped back into his chair.

"Okay," said Jefferson. "Now, this isn't boss talking to agent, this is father talking to son. What are you holding back from me, Josh? What aren't you telling us?"

"Nothing."

This made Jefferson angry. He had tried everything. Why wasn't his son telling him what was wrong? That's what fathers are supposed to be for. Sons shouldn't hold things back from their fathers, even if they aren't biologically related!

"Is something wrong with your partner? Are you having trouble getting along with Kat? Berto?"

"No. Nothing's wrong."

Jefferson kept going with his questioning until he was repeating himself. Then he launched himself into a tirade about how it disgraced him that his own son couldn't trust him. Josh tuned out after the first three questions. He felt bad, but he knew there was _no way_ Jefferson was going to find out that he was hearing voices. He had enough people concerned about him as it was. He didn't need any more special attention.

"Doesn't that make you mad, Josh?"

_Stop talking to me. _

"Why do you want me to stop talking to you?"

_You're making people think I'm crazy. You're making ME think I'm crazy!_

"Maybe you are."

_No, I'm not. _

"I think you arrrrrrreeee," the voice stretched out the last word in a sing song voice."

_I'M NOT CRAZY!_

"Josh McGrath is crazy, Josh McGrath is losing it," the voice taunted.

_Shut up! Shut up!! _"SHUT UP!!!" Josh roared the last words out loud, stunning his surrogate father. Josh had raised his voice to Jefferson only a few times his whole life, and had never told him to shut up.

Jefferson stopped talking and just sat there, staring at Josh, stunned. He watched Josh as he sat there in his chair, yelling at someone...and yet no one. Jefferson realized (with relief) that he wasn't the cause for Josh's anger, because he doubted Josh had heard half of what had been said in the first place. After a while, Jefferson had noticed a far away sort of look in Josh's eyes, and had even thrown in a few made-up words to his lecture to see if Josh would even notice. Then, when the man had finally stopped talking altogether, Josh's countenance didn't change in the slightest.

All of the sudden, Josh seemed to wake up. Stunned, he looked down at his hands, which had splintered the arms of the chair he was sitting in. He looked up at Jefferson.

"I have to go," he mumbled.

Jefferson stood up. "Son, I think you should stay here. I'll get Berto and he can figure out-"

Josh ignored him as he walked quickly to the door and opened it, the doorknob breaking off in his hand.

"Sorry."

Unintentionally slamming the door behind him, Josh exited the office.

Jefferson sighed and picked up the phone on his desk. "This is Smith calling Martinez. Martinez pick up now."

After a few seconds' delay, he heard "Martinez here. What can I do for you, sir?"

"I don't want Josh leaving the building. This is urgent."

Berto had been watching through the biolink the whole time, even though he knew he probably wasn't supposed to have been.

"I understand, sir."


	3. Arming Psycho

Hello hello hello! I took AN ENTIRE TWO DAYS to write this, but I know for some of you (cough, UKHoneyB, cough cough) it seemed to take a while because I DID say I would have it up yesterday. Sorry, I took some allergy medicine and it knocked me out, and when I woke up, it was 3:30 and my computer had been disconnected for the night. Don't ask. ANYWAY, here it is, with a special friend put into it. Heehee.

Chapter 3 

John Dread sat in his leather swivel chair, his back facing the desk. When the door to his office opened and slammed shut with a loud BANG he didn't even flinch. He knew who had come to visit him. Again.

"Grandfather, I'm bored! Can I PLEASE spar with Erickson? Pleeeease?"

"I've told you this already, my dear. His name is Psycho now, and you must refer to him as such. You were the one who chose it, remember? And no, you most certainly cannot spar with him any more at least for another month. We have Scientist 378 still working on reattaching his arm." With this the man spun around slowly in his chair. "It is only sparring, my dear, you must remember not to be so violent. That is what we have the punching bag for, not people."

"Psycho isn't a person," she pouted.

"No, not anymore, but I can't afford to have him out of commission for so long. If N'Tek had managed to locate our new base here in Brazil, then we would've needed him to provide distractions, WHICH he can't be doing without an arm. So you see my problem."

"Yes."

"Oh, don't look so sad, my dear. You and Psycho will both have a new sparring partner soon enough, and I'm pretty sure you won't have to hold back from him."

"Why is it taking so long, though?"

"Oh, I expect his partners and Jefferson Smith have noticed something is wrong by now. Of course, they won't be able to tell _how_ wrong, but they will take notice."

"What if they take blood samples? The Dread Probes will most certainly show up, won't they?"

"Not at all. That's one of the best parts of my plan. They disguise themselves as red blood cells. We only needed a small amount this time, so an extra amount of blood cells won't even be noticed, since, as you know, they can not possibly be counted."

"True. Is my ship ready yet?"

"Almost. It's being painted as we speak."

"What color?" she asked slyly, knowing the answer already.

Her grandfather smiled. "Black, of course."

"OW!!!!"

"Grow up."

"Don't tell me to grow up! You're holding a blowtorch to my shoulder."

Melissa, officially known as Scientist 378, turned off the blowtorch and stepped away from her patient, leaving the cyborg with a half-attached metal arm.

She took off the protective face shield she was wearing. "There. If you're going to complain, I'll just leave it like that. Then, the next time you see _Max Steel_ you can wave your half-attached arm comically in a circle, and hope he is made incapable to fight by the laughter you inspire. At that time, maybe you'll stand a chance in battle."

"Don't say that name," her patient growled. Psycho hadn't allowed anyone to get away with speaking his nemesis's name in his presence since his encounter with the hologram. Then again, he wouldn't get his arm attached anytime soon if he destroyed the only person who could fix him after he had been damaged to such an extent.

"Or what?"

"Or, I'll...oh just shut up and reattach my arm."

"Oh just shut up and reattach my arm what?" she asked, leaning against a table, hands on her hips.

"Oh just shut up and reattach my arm please," he mumbled.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she cupped her hand to her ear. "I couldn't really hear you."

"Oh just shut up and reattach my arm please!"

"Much better." She placed her shield back on her face and went back to work. Not being able to see through the heavy material of the face shield, Psycho could not see the smile that spread across the scientist's face.

_I know, I know, it's kinda short. Sorry, but I didn't want to flash back to N'Tek in the same chapter, I wanted to stay in our nice little Brazilian community for now. I will try to have the next chapter up tomorrow. Ciao!_


	4. Friends Dont Let Friends

_A/N: I DO realize that I probably got it wrong which arm the biolink is on. As always, don't hesitate to correct me. Hey, I figured I had a fifty/fifty chance, right? Oh well, I always guess wrong when the odds are good for me. Heehee, help me out here. _

Chapter 4

Josh ran towards the elevator that led to the parking garage, ignoring the odd looks he got from the other people in the hall. He got into the elevator just as it arrived at the floor. Not bothering to wonder at the helpful coincidence, he got in and pressed the button to close the doors. Once the doors were closed he ordered the elevator to go down to the parking garage level and slumped against the wall of the elevator. He looked up a few seconds later as he felt the elevator shudder to a stop.

"Oh great. Now what?!"

"Sorry, hermano, Smith's orders are to keep you from leaving the building," came a Hispanic voice over the biolink.

"BRO!!"

"I'm supposed to detain you until Smith can meet the elevator, which should be in about three minutes."

Josh sat back down on the floor of the elevator. "I didn't know you could mess around with the elevators," he grumbled.

"I can mess around with any electronic."

"Great." The blond teenager sat in silence for a few seconds, and then suddenly looked up.

Berto, being able to see everything that Josh saw, immediately knew what his friend as up to. "Josh, don't," he warned.

"Sorry, but there's a part of this elevator that isn't electronic." With that, Josh got up on the hand rail inside the elevator, and, standing on it, was able to open the escape hatch and climb out. He knew not to look down, because there were a good ten stories of empty elevator shaft beneath him. He easily got hold of the iron rungs attached to the wall of the shaft and climbed up the remaining three floors to the parking garage. Once there, he stood on the narrow platform, wobbling a bit, and used all of his strength to pry the doors open. He looked out on the empty parking garage and sighed. _Home free,_ he thought.

He walked quickly towards M3, his assigned parking spot, and was relieved to see that Berto hadn't moved his car. He got into the driver's seat and popped open the glove compartment, groping for his keys. Not being able to find them, he turned his head to look.

"Looking for these?" Kat stood six feet away from the car, jingling her partner's keys.

"Give. Them. Back." Josh said through clenched teeth, getting out of the car.

"Nope, I don't think I will. Come on, I'm supposed to take you to the briefing room, where we're all going to sit down and resume our little chat."

Josh made a grab for the keys. Kat moved them out of his reach, and at the same time dropped to the floor, swinging her leg behind him and sweeping him off his feet. He landed on his back.

"Rachel's right, you know. You need to train more. I can't believe you didn't see that coming."

Josh lashed out at her ankles with his left leg. She jumped out of range and unclipped something from her belt. It was aid green and the size of a tic-tac box.

"See this? Small EMP. I'm not really supposed to use it, but seeing as you're trying to go against a direct order, I think I'll be justified."

Josh moaned. "Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaat!"

"Come on, up. Let's go."

Josh eyed the bandage on her damaged wrist. That was her weak point. If he could just-

"You should just go with her, hermano. Believe me; she's still bitter over her wrist. I don't think she would hesitate to use that right about now."

Kat knew what he was thinking. She offered him her other hand. "Come on, McGrath. You can go up on your own legs, or I can drag you up unconscious. It's up to you."

He got up on his own, knocking away her hand and strode past her into the waiting elevator. Kat followed him in, and the doors closed behind the both of them. Kat leaned nonchalantly against the wall, and Josh stood stiffly in the far corner, putting as great a distance between them as the confined space would allow. He stared directly in front of him, determined not to look at Kat. Berto could not be heard over the biolink. Josh assumed he was waiting in the briefing room with Jefferson.

After a while it was clear to him that he was the object of Kat's gaze.

"What are you looking at?" he asked, finally turning.

"You," she replied simply.

"Why am I so interesting to look at all of the sudden?"

"Because I'm wondering why you're making such a big deal about this. Climbing up and down elevator shafts? Almost making me use an EMP on you? Get real, McGrath, something's bothering you, and we all know it. There's no more hiding it, so you might as well just come on and tell us all."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Like hell you don't."

Josh opened his mouth to shoot back some scathing remark, but at that moment the elevator doors slid open and he saw Rachel Leeds standing there waiting for him.

Not thinking so clearly at the time he muttered "Figures. They send two _women_ to control me."

This earned him yet another kick from Kat and a sharp smack in the back of his head from Rachel.

"Now that we've got our greetings out of the way, shall we proceed?" Without waiting for an answer, Rachel grabbed Josh's right arm and made the biolink visible. Having done that, she pushed the magic button and let go as Max pulled away from her. Unfazed, she grabbed his other arm, while Kat linked her left arm with his right. They walked down the hall in this fashion until they reached the oak door near the end of the hall and entered the briefing room.

"Ah, glad you've turned him back to Max. I wasn't too thrilled about Josh being seen running around the off-limits sectors of the building. Sit down."

Max was surprised to see that his adoptive father didn't look angry. Instead, he looked...tired. Max felt like groaning again. As much as he hated making his father angry, he hated disappointing him even more. He knew Jefferson was disappointed at him for not telling the truth about what was wrong, but what was he supposed to do? Say 'Uh, yeah, Dad, I've been hearing voices convincing me to do bad stuff. Is there some sort of SOP for that?'

"But it's not really bad stuff, is it Max?"

Max tried with all his might and pushed the voice out of his head. He was not going to let him control him. Whatever it was, it would go away. He had to act like nothing was wrong, and another one of his little 'outbreaks' with a whole room full of people wouldn't really be good proof of his mental health.

When he was done with his mental battle, Max looked up to see the rest of Team Steel, Rachel, and Jefferson Smith all staring at him.

"Um...hi?" he smiled weakly.

"Max, you've got a lot of explaining to do."

"Ok, Ricky."

"Max, knock it off," Rachel interrupted. "We're all interrupting our days to find out what's wrong with you. You could at least be a little cooperative."

Jefferson gave Rachel a nod. "Max, you've told us over and over that nothing is wrong, yet you blew up in my office, and I know your anger wasn't targeted at me because you weren't even listening to me the whole time. Now what is going on?"

Sensing he would not get a lot of cooperation from Max himself, Jefferson turned to Berto and Kat. "What about you two, do you know anything that you haven't told me yet? Anything at all that would be the least bit helpful?"

They both shook their heads, but Berto spoke up. "All we really know, sir, is that Max started talking to someone or something and was unreachable for a space of a few seconds. His inattentiveness wasn't due to lack of sleep because transphasik energy provides what he needs, and so he doesn't really need to sleep." At this point he looked over at Max, and saw the pleading look his friend was giving him. "However, sir, Max must have a pretty good reason not to tell us and to risk going against a direct order. Maybe you should let me work with him privately and see if I can fix whatever it is."

Jefferson sighed and shook his head, knowing that everything Berto had said was right, especially that last part. "Okay, Martinez, you have my permission to go ahead, however I will require an estimate on how long you will need once you get started...and if it's required that Max be given a break for a week or so."

Glancing at Max and seeing him shaking his head, Berto said "Yes sir, as soon as I finish the evaluation I'll give you an estimate, but I'm pretty sure Max will be just fine without a break."

Jefferson seemed satisfied with this, and didn't want to push the matter any further. "All right, dismissed." He walked out of the room and headed back towards his office. Kat, Berto, and Max headed for the door.

"Just a minute," Rachel said once Jefferson was out of hearing range, "Mr. Steel, I need to discuss your training, and Martinez, you should probably stay as well so you can keep Max to his program."

Kat hesitated for a moment, knowing that something was up, but after receiving a dismissive nod from Rachel, left the room, closing the door behind her. Rachel waited a few seconds before beginning. "First of all," she began, "I want to say to you, Dr. Martinez that when it comes to dealing with your partner, friend or not, you must do what's good for them in front of what _they_ think will be good for them."

Max started to open his mouth to defend Berto. Rachel rounded on him next. "And you, Mr. Steel, should know better than to disobey orders, no matter what your reason may be. As you may or may not recall, we are all on the same side here. All on the same team. We are not different teams aimed towards the same goal, we are united. You're both dismissed." Rachel sat back down in the chair she had occipied during the meeting.

"Hold on a minute, you can't dismiss us! If we want to stay here, we're going to stay right here." With that, Max sat back down in his seat as well. Berto kept his position against the wall and watched the two glare at each other. After twenty seconds or so, Max started fidgeting. "Um, yeah. I'm going to go now."

_Ok, this might be delayed getting up. This sites been a bit wacky, as you can see from the updates on the home page. So, if it's up late, my sincerest apologies, and if it's not, then forget you read this. Oh by the way, UKHoneyB and I were trying to figure this out the other day, maybe someone could help. In one of the episodes, Berto says via biolink to Max "Impressive, hermano, even for you." When the hell did he say that?! The stupid quote popped into my head, and I can't for the life of me remember when he actually said that!!!!! ARGH!!!!!! As you can see, I get worked up quite easily. Anyway, if you know it, help please! Thanks! Ciao!_


	5. Kings and Queens

Chapter 5

"No, my dear, that piece doesn't move that way."

"Well, I _want_ it to move that way."

"Abigail, there are many instances in which I allow you to make your own rules. The game of chess is not one of them."

Abigail crossed her arms and stared at the board. She picked up her knight and moved it seven places diagonally. She looked up and smiled hopefully at her grandfather.

She received a small frown in return.

"Fine then," she moved her knight back to where it had originally been and instead moved her queen five squares vertically. "Check!" she declared triumphantly.

"That was a fine move," John Dread told her. "However..." he moved his own queen, which had been residing in the corner of the board and captured her queen.

"Damn."

John Dread smiled and moved one of his pawns. He loved his granddaughter, but she always had trouble looking at the bigger picture. That was the main reason he was teaching her the game of chess. She had to learn how to attack, defend, and keep watch over other matters at the same time. His granddaughter moved her knight, the right way this time, and came to rest within a move of capturing his bishop. Dread was pondering his next move when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he called.

In came one of his scientists, the one he believed was in charge of Psycho's specialty care.

"Yes?"

"I just came to tell you that Psycho is now fully functional, and his new arm should be slightly more durable than the old one." Dread saw her glance at Abigail out of the corner of her eye. "However," she continued, "the socket was damaged during the removal of the arm, and I must ask that such an injury be prevented from reoccurring. There's only so much I can do."

"Thank you...378 is it?"

The woman in the lab coat nodded.

"Ah, thank you 378. I assure you this will not happen again." He said that last sentence pointedly while looking directly at Abigail, who gave him an innocent smile in return. He couldn't help but smile back. When he looked back at the woman, he saw her eyeing the chess board that sat on the table. "Do you play?" he asked.

"Yes, do you mind if I..."

"No, not at all." Dread gestured welcomingly towards the board.

The scientist picked up one of his knights and moved it a little further away from Abigail's king. "Checkmate," she said softly.

John Dread looked at the board. "Impressive," he said. "I'm glad you're working for me."

Scientist 378 nodded, turned, and left the room. Dread glanced back over at the redhead sitting across the board from him. He watched, amused, as Abigail studied the board, trying to find an error in the other woman's move.

"I'm afraid that move is flawless my dear."

"Damn it!" Abigail lifted her fist and started to bring it down towards the chess set, then suddenly stopped the movement in midair and pulled herself away from the board. With anyone else she would have smashed the wooden board and let the pieces fly off in all directions, and would probably enjoy it very much. However, these circumstances were a special case. This particular game had taken place in the presence of her grandfather, and had been played with his three hundred year old chess set. She would never dare ruin her grandfather's beloved set. "I think I'm going to go for a ride in my hovercraft," she said quietly, still shocked by what she had almost done.

"A good idea," Dread said.

She searched his face and could see no trace of anger on it. Instead she saw understanding and pride. He knew how hard it was for her to control her temper. It had taken thirty years for him to get his under control himself, and he was proud at the progress she had made. She threw her arms around him in a quick hug, and then exited the room, heading for the hangar where her hovercraft awaited her.

Dread waited until he could no longer hear her light footsteps in the hallway, and then picked up the black queen from the board. The marble felt cool in his hand. He pondered the piece. In the game of chess, the king was seen as the most important, and once the king was captured, the game was over. However, the queen was a far more powerful piece than the king. She could move a countless number of spaces in any direction, provided there were no obstacles, while the king could only move one space at a time. A famous quote popped into his head about there being a woman behind every great man.

_How true,_ he thought. In the game of chess, the queen was the woman behind the king. In the game of life his Abigail was the woman behind him. She had been the driving force keeping him going after all these years. After Max Steel and N'Tek had ruined countless numbers of his fortresses, he would just have to see his granddaughter to give him the strength to fight back. She would never mention it, but he knew that she wanted to fight as badly as he did. _In time, my dear, in time,_ he would always say. But he did not know how long she would wait until she could no longer obey his order to not strike out at N'Tek by herself. _After all,_ he mused, _how long would I be able to hold back on avenging my parents?_

_Dum de dum dum dummmmmm! I like to fill in the little blanks in my stories. First we didn't exactly know how Psycho came to be and then pop! Out came the Fred Erickson theory! Then we didn't know why Abigail lived with her grandfather, (I don't know if anyone actually wondered about that), and then pop! You find out why! I've been in more of a writing mood these past few days, so hopefully the chapters are getting a little better. Oh, and by the way, the idea of Scientist 378 (Melissa) coming in and making the winning move against Abigail was UKHoneyB's idea. Hmmm, could be metaphorical of what might happen later on in the story..............................................................._


	6. Simple Plan and Laser Pointers

Chapter 6

"OK, hermano, what's up?"

"Nothing."

"Max," Berto groaned, "I got you out of that meeting on the terms that you would tell me what was wrong so I can fix it!"

"Well, nothing's wrong, so there's nothing to tell."

The scientist sighed, and then rolled his swivel chair over to his console. He picked a CD off the surface and waved it at Max. "See this?"

Max didn't need his enhanced vision to recognize the red and black CD. His eyes widened in horror at the sight of the CD that had been blasted through the house for seven days straight when his younger cousin Jill came to visit. It was Simple Plan's _No Pads, No Helmets, Just Balls_. They were a whiny, wannabe punk band, and all their songs sounded exactly alike. "Bro, don't fool around," he warned.

Berto pushed a button on the console, and a CD player rose out of it. He opened the CD player and put the CD in. Closing the slot, he turned to Max. "You need a code to open that, and only I know it. If you don't tell me what's wrong, I'll be forced to push play."

"I'd lock you in the closet!"

"Doesn't matter, you'd still need me to enter the code when you started to go insane...assuming you haven't already. Now talk."

"If you had time to install a CD player that locks just for the purpose of torturing me, you have _way_ too much time on your hands," Max grumbled.

Berto sat in his chair, arms folded and eyebrows raised. "Habla."

"All right, fine. I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone else...not even Jefferson."

Berto whistled. _What was the big deal?_ he wondered. He mimed locking his lips and throwing away the key.

Max gave a heavy sigh, and then leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling. "I've been hearing voices...well, not really voices, one voice, in particular."

He looked back at Berto, who was keeping his face expressionless. Max couldn't read his face.

"What kind of things does the voice say, hermano?"

"It..." he stopped mid-sentence and stood up. "This is ridiculous!" he yelled.

Berto rolled his chair back towards the console and put his finger on the play button.

"Okay, okay," Max said, sitting back down. "It argues with me."

"About what?"

"About...my morals, I guess."

"For example..."

"Well, this morning with the whole motorcycle thing, it was trying to convince me that what the guy was doing wasn't really that bad, and to let him get away with it."

"And in Jefferson's office before?"

"It was trying to convince me that I was crazy." Josh stared at the floor. It sounded so stupid! Maybe he _was_ crazy. _No,_ he told himself,_ you're NOT crazy, don't listen to that stupid voice._ He risked a look up at his friend, and saw Berto looking thoughtfully back at him. He decided that was a good sign. The younger agent didn't look skeptical or even scared, just thoughtful. "Well?"

"Could be a bunch of things. I don't remember of it ever happening before to any of our agents, but then again, what happened to you has never happened to anyone else either."

"What do you think we should do?"

"What about a psychiatrist?"

"WHAT?!"

"Come on, hermano, you've been way too stressed lately, especially after that thing with Abigail. Stress is known to do weird things...I think maybe...a break _would _do you good."

"Bro!"

"Hermano, if this keeps happening, especially during missions, you could put yourself and your partner in serious danger!"

"Just give me one more chance. Come on, put me on probation of you want to!"

Berto didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then, shaking his head in defeat, he got up and grabbed the phone off the wall. "Sir? This is Dr. Martinez." There he hesitated and glanced at Max, staring at his feet. "I'm putting Max on probation. There shouldn't be any more problems. However, just in case there is even one more, he'll be put on break, and we can look into what, if anything, is wrong." Berto felt like scum. He never lied to his superiors. Never. Especially Jefferson Smith, who had given him a job when no one else would him being so young. He knew he wasn't actually telling a flat-out lie, but he felt his words were close enough to one, and he felt guilty.

"How's your wrist?"

"Better, still can't shoot with that hand though," Kat said, holding her pistol in her good hand. She squeezed off a shot, and hit her target. Though it wasn't her dominant hand, she could still shoot well with it, having trained herself equally with both in preparation for a situation similar to the one she was currently in.

"You know, I can't think of a mission where Max has actually spaced out. Sure, meetings, but I even fell asleep in one of those once."

Kat lowered her gun and turned to stare at Rachel. "_You?_ Rachel Leeds fell asleep in a meeting?" she asked, incredulously.

Rachel didn't take her eyes off the man's silhouette with a bull's eye in the middle. She fired off another shot, leaving a smoking hole right in the center. "Haven't you?"

"Well duh, but I never thought you would."

"I'm human," Rachel said, firing another shot, purposely missing the target altogether. "See?" she said innocently.

Kat laughed. "All right, sorry."

"No need to apologize, but you buy lunch."

Kat groaned. "I bought yesterday!"

"Person who makes the better shot wins, Rachel said, adjusting her goggles."

"You're on," said Kat slyly. "You first."

"Fine then," Rachel closed one eye, aimed carefully, and squeezed off another shot, landing in the ring surrounding the center.

"Pretty good," said Kat. She clipped something onto her gun, and before Rachel looked to see what she was doing, Kat raised her gun, and Rachel saw what had been clipped on.

"A laser pointer! No fair!"

"Hey, I'm using my bad hand. I'm just making it even," said Kat. She looked at the small red dot focused on the bull's eye, and pointed her gun slightly below where she wanted it to go, because she knew recoil would jerk the gun up a bit when she fired. Pulling the trigger, she heard the bullet tear through the paper target, and saw the hole directly in the center of the bull's eye. She smiled sweetly at the other woman. "Hope you have money, because I am _hungry_."

_Simple Plan fans...I have nothing to say. Oh wait, yes I do: MWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA!_


	7. Mayday

_Hello, hello, here's some more about Abigail and her history, and yet another explanation, or filling in of blanks about Max and Dread. Nothing shocking nor terribly important, but it popped into my head as I was typing, and it fit with what I was currently writing, so I decided to just go with it. And yes, I have started writing my little A/N up here before writing the chapter instead of writing one before and one after each chapter. Also, I do realize that some people throw hissy fits at authors for putting A/N in the middle of their fics, but I honestly do not care. Ciao. _

Chapter 7

Abigail zoomed through the air in her hovercraft, firing her lasers at everything and everything that got in her way. She laughed as a group of villagers ran from their burning grass huts.

"Welcome to the twenty-first century!" She cackled, loving how well the craft handled. It was routine for her to test out and receive prototypes of brand new technology...especially the kind that could do some damage. She had a lot of anger to work out. A lot. She knew that her grandfather also had a great amount of rage stored deep inside of him, but he had learned to shut himself from it. He had never revealed, even to her, the source of his anger, though he was quite familiar with the source of hers, which she hadn't learned to shut herself off from, and suspected would never be able to do so. (A/N: A bit of a run-on there, I could probably fix it, but don't really care.)

Abigail had been with her grandfather in his mansion in Russia the fateful night N'Tek had killed her parents. He had been teaching her to play checkers, what he saw as a sort of a chess for beginners game. Same basic theory, get rid of your opponents pieces. When the phone rang, he had just triple jumped her. He never let her win. John Dread saw letting someone win as an insult to their intelligence. Unless, of course, it was a trap. He had taught Abigail this theory and reinforced it strictly, as he did the rules of chess.

The phone only rang twice when the butler answered it. "Yes?"

Abigail did not look up, although now thinking back on the night, her grandfather didn't receive many unexpected calls. She was concentrating on figuring out what her next move would be. Her grandfather, however, could sense things, and stared at the butler, the former scrutinizing the face of the latter. After a few minutes, the butler hung up the phone and made eye contact with the other man, then cast a sad look at the then innocent little girl and nodded.

John Dread let out a sigh and waved his hand, dismissing his servant. He watched as Abigail moved in on a direct attack on his king, which he could've gotten a double jump out of. Instead he put his hand gently on the girls hand and began to talk.

In later years, her grandfather had revealed information of her parent's demise in small bits. Beginning with the fact that they were dead and that she would be living with him. Then came the name of their killers, both died shortly after her parents, and both had been employed by N'Tek. Then the information began coming more fluently, including John Dread's opinion that the mission had been a kamikaze mission, that he had tried to talk Abigail's parents out of, but they had been convinced that they would pull it off. The final thing he had told her that there was to know about her parent's death was that they had both gone down fighting. As would she, Abigail knew. It would be an insult to her parents' memory to ever give up, even if her death would be the price.

Aware that she was traveling into dangerous anger-stimulating categories of her mind, Abigail snapped back into attention to avoid crashing into an astonishingly large tree. She laughed. Nature couldn't get rid of her that easily. Science had made her, and only science would be able to kill her in the end. She had been a test tube baby, the first one. She had been 'attempt 782', and the only success. She knew that she was unnatural, that she wasn't meant to be on the earth. Nature had tried nonstop to get rid of her. When she was younger she had been constantly ill, and had only been cured of her many ailments from an injection of Max probes that made her immune system nearly indestructible. She received only enough to boost her immune system permanently. Her speed, strength, and skill were all her own.

Yes, that was why her grandfather was ceaselessly attempting to capture and study Max Steel instead of destroying him when he got the chance, as Psycho would have preferred. Recently there had been great advances in max probe research in her father's many labs worldwide, including new strains of the probes that could repair parts of the human body. For example, for two years now Abigail's vision had been inexplicably been going downhill, another one of nature's little 'gifts', she assumed. Her grandfather wanted Max to test certain strains of the probes on first, as he refused to use his granddaughter as a test subject.

Abigail still had above average vision, but it used to be perfect. Slowly it was on its way to just being good. This, on her levels, was not good but bad. Very bad. She decided to test out her vision with a little target practice. She narrowed the laser's width, until it was about the side of a dime, and took aim at a children's toy in the middle of the street, far below. She aimed for the head, and with two shots had taken out both of the doll's eyes. For her, it was not exactly an extraordinary feat, but she was still proud of the perfect shots. However, looking down, she realized that she could not see thin streams of smoke that were rising from the laser holes in the doll's head.

She slammed her fists down in fury. Two years ago she would have been able to see the smoke! Why was this happening to her?! With a jolt she realized that the nose of the craft had began to tip down. She reached over to the controls to get the vehicle moving again and then saw the sparks shooting out of the dashboard. _Shit, I must have hit it harder than I thought it would,_ she thought. She tapped at one of the buttons on the other side of the craft, trying to alter the craft's current location- the ground- without success. Knowing that she was going down, she picked up the radio, and contacted her grandfather. The radio linked to one in his office. "Mayday, mayday, this is Eagle1, going down." She gave her coordinates. "Grandfather, are you there? Repeat, this is Eagle1 calling in a Mayday. Mayday. Is anyone there?"

She continued to repeat her mayday and the latitude and longitude of her location. She continued as the nose of the hovercraft continued dipping down. Realizing that if she did nothing, the aircraft would only continue to tip until...she didn't know what would happen if she let it go. The hovercraft chose to tilt another twenty degrees at that point, and Abigail decided that she wasn't going to wait until the vehicle capsized in mid-air. All types of high tech and modern solutions to fixing her current problem ran through her head, so needless to say, she slammed her fist onto the controls again. More sparks flew, and the vehicle immediately straightened itself out.

The redhead allowed herself a sigh of relief, but was cut short when the vehicle suddenly lurched forward, and started traveling at full speed.

"CRAP!!!" Abigail fought the controls, but it made no difference at all. Looking up through the windshield, she saw the rainforest below her becoming larger, the blanket of green rushing towards her. "MAYDAYYYYYYYYYY!" she screamed as the craft picked up speed, now on a collision course with a large tree. She kept yelling until she and her metallic exoskeleton rammed into the tree and the front of the vehicle crunched, and tortured metal shrieked. The craft slid down the trunk of the tree, hitting branches on the way down. At the end of the descent, Abigail laid motionlessly inside the machine, her left arm twisted at an unnatural angle beneath her.


	8. Down Kitty

Chapter 8

"Ok, hermano, test time!"

"Test time? I'm Max at N'Tek, not Josh in class!"

"I know, I've got a mission for you, but it's a small one, so if you blow it, it won't be the end of the world."

"Ok, what've you got for me?"

"A mayday call came in from the Amazon on our frequency. We don't know exactly how whoever it is got our frequency in the first place, but it's not one of our agents, because everyone's accounted for. Kat and I will be going with you, so I'll be there in case you have any...troubles."

"The Amazon? Oh, Kat's gonna just love that," Max said, laughing. "I', sure she's just been dying to go back to where she was stranded for six weeks." (Six weeks? A little help, UKHoneyB?)

Berto winced. "I forgot about that. You're telling her."

"No way."

Berto popped the oh-so-dreaded Simple Plan CD into the CD player. Max was unaware of what the scientist was doing until it was too late.

"_I'm trying._

_To forget that,_

_I'm addicted to you,_

_But I want it,_

_And I need it,_

_I'm addicted to you..."_

"BERTO!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Who's telling Kat, Max?"

"Who's telling me what Martinez?"

Berto jumped and turned slowly around in his swivel chair to see the third member of Team Steel standing behind him, arms crossed. "Um...nothing! Nothing at all!"

Kat took a step toward him. "Berto..." she said in a warning tone of voice.

Berto backed away from her and bumped into his console, causing the CD to skip. "We're, um, going to a certain place that you don't like so much."

"And which certain place might this be?" Kat took another step towards Berto, glaring at him.

"It could be...somewhere in South America."

"What part of South America?"

"Um, northeast?"

"Martinez!"

"Ok, ok, we're going to the Amazon Rainforest!"

"No we are not!" Kat lunged for the younger agent, who ducked out of reach, and ran towards the door, crashing into Max, who had just arrived on the scene.

"Max! Help!"

"TURN OFF THE MUSIC!!!!"

"I can't, Kat's blocking the way!"

"I'll get her, you fix it!"

"YOU'LL GET ME?!" Kat was raging now. "YOU'LL _GET_ ME?! DO YOU WANT A REPEAT OF THIS MORNING, STEEL?!"

"I wasn't in Max mode before." As he said this, Max flung himself at Kat's ankles, but Kat jumped up and landed standing up on his back.

"Hah!"

"Hah nothing!" Max rolled over and Kat leaped off of him, but he swept his leg behind her as she landed, and connected with her heels, knocking her feet out from underneath her. She landed on her back, but sprang back up and landed on her feet. Having succeeded in drawing Kat's attention from Berto to himself, Max grabbed the CD Berto now held in his left hand, threw it against the wall as hard as he could, and was out the door with Kat in hot pursuit before the shattered pieces hit the floor.

"Hey," Berto yelled after him, "you owe me $14.50!"

"Hey," Max yelled back over his biolink, "you owe me your life! Are you seeing Kat right now?" Max turned his head and looked over his shoulder to give Berto a view of Kat, chasing her partner down the hall, a smirk on her face. "She is so gonna kill me..." Max groaned.

Berto took his time getting down to the equipment room, where the fight had been continued. He paused outside the door for a minute, listening. Silence. _Uh oh,_ he thought, _silence with Max and Kat in the same room? Definitely a bad thing. _

He pushed the door open cautiously and saw that the room was empty. He took a few steps forward until he was in the center of the room, standing on the blue matted floor.

"Max?" He turned around, searching the room. "Kat? Where are you guys? We're supposed to get-AHHHHHHHHH!"

Berto hit the mat as Max and Kat dropped on him above, where they had been sitting on top of pull up bars suspended from the ceiling. Max landed on his legs and Kat landed on his back.

"Gotcha!" she cried gleefully, rolling off of him.

"Not funny," Berto whined as Max pulled him up.

"Oh, come on, Martinez, you know that one was a classic!"

"Yeah, you know what else will be a classic?"

"What's that?"

"You're face when you encounter piranhas."

"Not if you encounter them first..." Kat lunged towards Berto again, who ran out the door. "YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE, MARTINEZ!!"

Max sighed. "I wish you guys would just go out together already."

Kat spun around to face him. "WHAT?!"

"Nothing!" Max ducked a pair of boxing globes she flung at his head and ran out the door, following Berto's lead.


	9. Psycho Screws Up

_A/N: I've realized that keeping the character's personalities has pretty much gotten away from me altogether, so I apologize for some inaccuracies when it comes to that. Props go to Akili-Chan for giving me the idea to writing about "Mrs. Dread." _

Chapter 9

John Dread put the chess piece he had been pondering back down on the board as he heard a metallic sounding knock on his door. He turned away from the window, sat down in his chair and sighed. "Come in, Psycho."

Dread didn't feel like dealing with his henchman at this particular moment. For one thing, he had been brooding, and whenever interrupted, he was not happy about it. For another thing, Psycho was always very...uppity every time he was fixed. Supposedly it was some sort of painkiller they gave him. Dread didn't believe a word of it, but he put up with his colleague, just in case. However, today the cyborg was walking on thin ice. Or rather stomping on it.

"I've gotten a little lose in the whole family tree business here. Now, who's running the show, you or the girl?"

John Dread stood up. He knew where this was going, and he did not wish to venture into that territory. "The girl's name is Abigail, and she is your superior. By far. Let me first make that clear. Secondly, I am running the show, as you call it, and training Abigail to replace me upon my retirement, so as of now, she is my, co-pilot, shall we say."

"Well then, maybe we should come up with a name pretty enough to match hers? Hmmm?"

Dread shook his head and turned away. He was NOT in the mood for this!

Psycho continued his little rant. "Let's think of a nice girly name for Abigail's puppy dog. Tracy? Emily? Brittany?"

"Stop."

"Maybe something longer, more sophisticated, yes, that would be more like you, wouldn't it."

The older man felt like banging his head against the wall. Where was Abigail anyway? If she had been around, he might have allowed her to have some fun with Psycho.

"Valerie? Victoria? Veron-ARGH!!!"

Psycho's list had been cut short by his employer as the latter spun around and slammed the former into a wall of filing cabinets.

"What the-?" Psycho tried to free himself, but found that he was effectively pinned to the metal wall behind him.

"Out."

Psycho ran towards the door, and had to duck the visitor's chair that came flying after him. Not used to running so low, he tripped and stumbled, landing flat on his face, and the chair hit the corridor wall and broke into several pieces. A button rolled past Psycho's face. "What the hell was that?" he wondered, amazed. The whole time he had worked for DREDD, he had never witnessed the leader of the organization use force on...anyone.

A woman in a lab coat walked past. Psycho recognized her as Scientist 378, the one in charge of his 'repairs'. "Veronica was the name of his wife."

"Huh?!" Psycho scrambled up off the floor and ran off the woman, who was walking quite briskly. He grabbed her shoulders and spun her around.

Not seeming the least bit surprised, she swatted his hands off her shoulders and adjusted her spotless coat.

"Was? What do you mean _was_?"

"Well, you don't see her anywhere, do you?" she raised her eyebrows at him.

"Well, where is she?"

"Not here."

"I KNOW NOT HERE!" he raged, some uniformed henchmen heading his way turned and ran the other way. Psycho had been known to use his inferiors as target practice.

"She's dead."

"Dead?" Psycho echoed her.

"Yes. She worked as a scientist here and was involved in some ground-breaking studies that are still under development today. She was brilliant, but one night she got careless. She didn't bother with proper safety precautions. We are always reminded to remember with all safety precautions."

Psycho waited for her to say more, but she didn't. "And...?"

The scientist looked him straight in the eye. "It only takes one mistake to give something deadly a chance to begin developing."

Psycho knew he was treading into dangerous territory, but he was not known for his patience, especially when it came to his curiosity. "What kind of something deadly?"

"An out of control growth of cells, more commonly known as cancer. No one realized something was wrong until it was too late. Veronica died at age 34 of a brain tumor, on the first birthday of her only daughter. Now, if you will excuse me, I think I have said enough."

Taking Psycho's stunned silence as an answer, she walked away and had disappeared around a corner by the time he snapped out of it. He slumped against the wall, and sat down there in the hallway. Despite minor spats here and there, he had always had a pretty good relationship with his employer. _How am I going to fix this one?_ he wondered. "I screwed up big this time. Real big." At this moment his mind flickered, working faster than usual, which wasn't really fast to begin with.

The former Fred Erickson jumped up and ran down the hallway. "WERE YOU EAVESDROPPING?!!!"


	10. Improvising with Snakes

_A/N: Ok, yeah, sorry this is really short, but I just wanted to put it up on the sight, because I haven't had much of a chance to write lately. School and crao. yeah, I know, excuses, excuses. Oh well, here's the chapter, hopefully another soon to follow. And no, the end of the chapter's not exactly supposed to be some big mystery. _

Chapter 10

Abigail sat surrounded by scattered parts of what used to be her brand-new hovercraft. The only thing that had survived the crash with her was her tube of lipstick, which had rolled under the seat during the test run earlier that day. She sat on a stump and stared at the tube in her hand, twirling it slowly between the fingers of her right hand. Her left arm hung uselessly next to her. _Figures,_ she scoffed. _I don't even have a mirror_. She stopped fiddling with the tube of lipstick, and in a sudden burst of anger threw it as hard as she could into the brush. Bad idea. A few seconds after the lipstick hit something with an odd sound, there was a rustling in the bushes.

"Oh great, what now," Abigail rolled her eyes. She turned to look in the direction where the lipstick had gone, and was rewarded by seeing the sight of a bright green and yellow snake gliding across the ground towards her. Abigail decided that it looked harmless enough, even...well, pretty. She crouched down. "Hey, snakey, snakey..." she crooned. She had always liked reptiles. She reached out a hand to touch it when it suddenly lunged for her, and she yelled in surprise and fell backwards onto the ground. "Hey, what was that for?!" she screamed. She had been sitting in the same place for three hours, her fury building. Now, she finally had an outlet to take it out on. Standing up, she towered above the snake. "Stupid..." with one fluid movement, she slid her foot under the creature and flipped her foot, sending the snake flying across the clearing. It hit a large tree with a sickening crunch, slid down the trunk, and laid still on the partially exposed roots.

She walked over to the crumpled body of the snake to survey the damage she had done to it. _Shame_, she thought,_ it was really nice-looking._ Looking down at the snake, her stomach growled, and she realized for the first time in the hours she had ben sitting lost in thought, that she was hungry. It was a strange feeling. At her grandfather's base, she was never hungry. She ate whenever she felt like it, which was often, and there was always food on hand. At the moment, she didn't see a mini bar nearby, but... She picked up the snake and looked it over. _Sometimes one must improvise._

__

__

"Hey, Steel, Martinez! Look, there's smoke over there!"

"How can you see anything?"

"Well, she's not wearing fogged up glasses, Bro. I never got why you don't switch to contacts."

"He looks cute with glasses."

Both male agents turned to her. "WHAT?!"

"Um...look! There it is again! It's coming from the right! Let's go!" Kat quickly ran ahead towards where she had supposedly seen the smoke.

Max looked at Berto. "Did she just say what I think she said?"

"Forget you're psychiatric evaluation, hermano, I think we should turn Kat in."

They both laughed, and then ran after Kat, trying not to let her get out of sight, which was difficult, her having more experience in the environment than they did, and Max not wanting to go too fast and lose Berto.

A few minutes later, the two younger members of Team Steel were still talking as they ran after Kat. Watching the ground to make sure they didn't trip over anything, they ran right into Kat, and all three of them went sprawling into a clearing. Kat was right, the smoke hadn't been just a cover-up for her little slip. There had been smoke coming from that direction. If they hadn't expected Kat to have seen what max didn't, they definitely hadn't expected to see what they discovered in the middle of the clearing.


	11. Bye Bye Behemoth?

_Woohoo! I just got a review from a new person! Do you know how shocked I was to see three reviews in my mail box for one chapter?! I don't think that has ever happened to me before! WOW! Ok, I'll calm down sooner or later. _

Chapter 11

Abigail looked up as she heard the three N-Tek agents enter the clearing. "Figures," she sighed. The stunned looks on the faces of the three newcomers amused her. "Hey guys, imagine seeing you here!" She knew she didn't have to act threatening to make them jumpy, her presence alone, she observed, had already accomplished that. The redhead stared at Max, Kat, and Berto for a few seconds, and then watched as they snapped out of the stupefied daze they were each in.

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Kat was the first to break the silence.

"I could ask you the same thing, but I know. I guess the radio changed channels during the crash, and my mayday got to you instead of my grandfather."

"Grandfather?" Kat looked around. "You have family in Brazil?"

"Not family, actually, just my grandfather. Now, I suppose you, Kat, are especially eager to get out of here, aren't you?"

Kat crossed her arms across her chest and glared at Abigail. "How do you know about that?"

"I had some spare time while at N-Tek, so I took a glance at the histories of the people I'd be working with. The information is classified, of course, but as Berto knows, I'm very good at computers. Right Berto?"

Berto had been staring down at his feet during this exchange. Hearing this refernce to their working together, he mumbled something incoherent and turned away, walking off into the brush.

"Now, let's get on with this, shall we?" Abigail stood up, stretched, and walked over to Max, who, Kat was surprised, had shown no reaction during the entire exchange. Abigail stopped two feet in front of Max. "Show me where you guys parked, Max."

Kat snickered. "Yeah, I'm sure he's just gonna-"she stopped short as Max turned around and started walking back towards the way they had come.

"They have pretty good snake here, Kat. I left the poison sacs for you if you want them," Abigail said, smiling sweetly.

Kat felt sick. Max had been acting weird all day, and now she _knew _something was definitely wrong. And she had a bad feeling who had a hand in it. "What'd you do to him," she glared at Abigail.

"Who says _I_ did anything to him?" Abigail asked as she disappeared after Max, following him into the rainforest.

Kat found Berto, who had been sitting on a stump six feet away. "Martinez, Abigail has something to do with what's wrong with Max."

Berto stood up quickly, caught his foot on a root, and would have fallen flat on his face if Kat hadn't caught him. "What do you mean? Where are they?"

"They went off this way, come on, Max is leading her to where we left Behemoth."(Spelling? I don't know.)

"WHAT?!" Max wouldn't do that, he has to be setting her up for something."

"I don't think so, he was acting...weird."

"What kind of weird?" Berto took off at a run towards where Kat had said Max and Abigail were headed, and Kat ran next to him."

"Not all there weird, the light's are on but nobody's home weird, get it?"

"I was thinking maybe he was just messed up after being betrayed...again. You know how he was after the Mairot thing," Berto panted, "but now it sounds like they...did something to him when he was at the DREDD base."

"Well whatever happens, we can't let them-"Kat stopped dead in her tracks, and Berto, who had been a few paces behind her on the narrow path they had made, plowed right into her.

"Hey!" he yelled, but Kat clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Listen," she whispered.

Berto stopped struggling against her, and listened. It was hard to hear anything but the sounds of the forest around him, but he easily picked up on an enraged voice coming from twenty feet away.

"YOU LANDED IN QUICKSAND! HOW DID YOU LAND IN QUICKSAND AND NOT REALIZE IT! LOOK AT THIS, YOU CAN'T EVEN GET TO THE DOORS!"

Berto smiled to himself. This was the best mistake he had made all day. All week, really. Kat looked over at him and saw his facial expression.

"How are you smiling?!" she hissed at him, keeping her voice low to avoid being heard.

"Because, if she got away with Max, we'd be in real trouble, now at least we're all stuck here together. That means if we're not going anywhere, neither is she, and neither is Max," he whispered back.

"Yeah, but you seem to be overlooking the part where we're stuck in the lousy rainforest with HER!" she yelled the last word, unable to control herself.

Berto shook his head. "Come on, we should probably go see what she's up to now, we can't just stay here forever."

"Fine, let's go." They both got up and ran at a slower pace to the landing site, knowing there was no real rush to get there this time. They heard Abigail before they saw her.

"What are you doing?! Wake up! Stupid-"a loud thud sounded, "fickle programming!"

Kat and Berto appeared just in time to see Abigail kick Max again. Max was sitting on the ground, slumped against a tree, seemingly asleep.

"Hey, knock it off!" Kat yelled as Abigail prepared to kick Max again. "I'm the only one around here who gets to kick him, all right?!"

"Yeah, well then get him to wake up!" Abigail yelled back.

"Why don't you tell me why he's asleep in the first place?"

Berto knelt down next to Max.

"How should I know why he's sleeping?!" Abigail answered Kat back. "He's your partner, isn't he?!"

"Yeah, well you did something weird to him! Why was he listening to you?!"

"Maybe he likes me better!"

"Oh, get over yourself!"

"Guys..."

"Why should I?!"

"Because you're a stuck-up little-"

"GUYS!"

"WHAT?!" Both women spun around and glared at Berto.

"Max is waking up," he said quietly.

Kat and Abigail glanced at each other, and Abigail went to stand against a nearby tree. Kat ran to Max. "Hey, Steel, are you alive?"

"No," Max grumbled. "How'd I get here?"

"You walked here," Abigail offered.

Max opened his mouth to respond, and then stopped and closed his eyes. "Bro, tell me that wasn't who I think it was," he moaned.

"Um, I won't tell you?"

A loud sucking noise to the left brought everyone's attention to the quicksand where the top of Behemoth had just sunk under the surface.

"This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?"


	12. I Love Berto

_Dum de dum dum dum, I love Berto, dum dum dum, Berto rocks, dum de de dum._

Chapter 12

Berto was not happy about the current situation, which involved having to turn his back on Abigail, who was close behind him. A lot closer than Max and Kat, who were about ten feet to the left. The youngest member of Team Steel could not concentrate on the simplest task of gathering spare parts form Abigail's wrecked hovercraft without picturing the redhead stabbing a knife in between his shoulder blades while he had his back turned.

"Really, Berto, you have to calm down. You're practically hyperventilating, isn't it hot enough for you in this stupid rainforest already?"

"I'm not hyperventilating...it's humid, so I can't breathe as easily."

Abigail rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure."

Berto didn't answer her, and kept on with his current project. He had to pick through the wreckage of the totaled aircraft and gather enough parts to make some sort of transmitter to relay their current position back to N'Tek.

"Anyway," said Abigail, "I don't know what you're so worried about. I wouldn't do anything to you...yet. Remember? I need you to build the transmitter thing? And, you three can't get on my bad side because then I can deny you access to my ship, and we're all screwed. For now we all need each other, so for now, you're safe."

"For now?"

Abigail picked up an enormous shard of glass from the windshield and twirled it between her fingers. "Well, after our location is transmitted...I can't make any promises." With that, she tossed the shard of glass through the air. It tumbled four times during it's flight, and then stuck itself in a tree trunk. This drew the attention of Kat and Max, and Abigail smiled sweetly and waved.

"Well," Berto said, trying to sound like he wasn't terrified, "if we found a way to incapacitate you until this is all over, we could have access to the craft without your permission."

"True," said Abigail, now examining her perfectly manicured fingernails, which had thankfully not been damaged in the crash, "but if you tried to put me out of action and failed...let's just say you'd probably be the easiest target. But then again Max _has_ been very...malleable lately."

At this, Berto stood up and glared at her. "What's that supposed to mean? What do you know?"

"Ah, so he's told you about the voices, has he? Interesting, Grandfather and I thought that he'd probably pull some macho crap and not tell anyone that anything was wrong."

"Believe me, he tried, I had to...Wait a second, who's your grandfather? You said he lives here, so what could he know about dealings back in the US?"

Abigail gave Berto an incredulous look. "You mean even you haven't put two and two together yet? I have to admit, Berto, I thought at least _you_ would figure it out."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on. Besides that freak Dragonelle, how many high-ranking women does DREDD employ? One, and that's me. And why would that be?"

"No way."

"Because Grandfather runs the whole show. That's right, I am Abigail Veronica Dread."

Berto stood staring at her, his mouth open.

"Oh, come now, it must have crossed your mind."

"Maybe, but I-I never really thought about it as a possibility."

"Well, now you know. Are you going to finish your little science project before it gets dark out? I don't know how reliable firelight is to work by."

"It won't be done tonight. It'll probably take a few days."

"Great." Abigail glanced at Kat and Max, and saw they were busy arguing over the best way to get the fire re-lit. "So...speaking of science projects, do you ever get a little tired of working?"

"Not really, why would you ask?" Berto asked suspiciously, but didn't look up from his work.

"Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but basically all you're involved in at N'Tek has to do with Max, right?"

"No."

"What?"

"Wherever you're going with this, no."

"Oh, come on, Berto, that's not thinking like a scientist. At least hear me out."

Berto didn't respond, so Abigail took that as a 'go ahead'. She gave herself a mental high-five. She didn't think Berto would let someone suggest that he wasn't a true 'man of science'. "Ok, if Max wasn't..._around_ anymore, you wouldn't really have anything else to do at N'Tek, would you?"

Berto looked as though he wanted to hit her, but he controlled himself and instead said "Not really, no."

"Well, say if someone offered you three million dollars in exchange for Max..."

Berto had heard enough. He stood up and looked her in the eye. "No," he said, quietly.

"Think about it," Abigail's voice was soft, dangerous, "you could retire to Columbia, be with your family..."

"No," Berto said, louder this time.

"Buy any little technology gadget you wanted..."

"NO!"

"Any supercomputer right there in your home..."

"I SAID NO!" with a strength Berto never knew he had, he drew his arm back and punched Abigail in the face as hard as he could, all the anger he head been holding back from when he had first learned she had betrayed him forced into that single motion.

Abigail stood perfectly still with a shocked look on her face, and, stiff as a board, fell backwards onto a backdrop of rotted leaves. Berto stood down at the now-unconscious Abigail, and heard cheering from the other two members of Team Steel on the other end of the clearing.


	13. The End For Now

_A/N: Yeah, sorry, this took a little while. Wasn't in a writing mood, but Julia456's progress has spurred me into writing more and not being left in the dust. Uh-oh, wait a minute, Kat's last name just slipped out of my head! Argh! Oh, ok wait I remember it now. Ryan. Ok. Haha. False alarm. Yeah. By the way, does anyone know what kind of VCRs people in Australia use? Do they use PAL VCRs or is that just you UK people over there?_

Chapter 13

Abigail snapped out of a dead sleep, opened her eyes, and then quickly closed them again as she saw Max and Kat sitting six feet away. Thank fully they hadn't seen her open her eyes. That gave her more time to asses her situation without their mind-numbing babble interrupting. From what she had seen, Berto was still working on his transmitter-thing, and Kat and Max were sitting where she had seen them, presumably keeping watch over her. She realized she was sitting too, against something hard and rough, which she determined was one of the lousy trees which were everywhere. Since Kat and Max weren't watching her that closely, she assumed she was probably tied up, which she soon realized was true. She tested her bonds and discovered that her hands and feet were tied with vines, which also bound her to the stupid tree. The throbbing pain in her jaw did not improve her situation either. _Damn._

She opened her eyes again, this time keeping them open, and realizing that it was midmorning, judging from the intensity of the sun that managed to get through the thick canopy of leaves above the clearing. She cleared her throat and directed her attention towards Kat and Max.

"Oh, look, her royal highness is awake," Kat said dryly.

"Oh, I don't know what your problem is, really," Abigail rolled her eyes. "What did I ever do to you?"

"You're the reason I'm stuck in this stupid rainforest again!"

"Details, details."

"And you messed with my partners!"

"Oh, but they're so cute!" Abigail winked.

Kat started to get up, but Max grabbed her arm. "Don't let her get to you."

"Who says she's getting to me?" Kat protested, but sat back down anyway.

"So," Abigail began casually, nodding towards Berto, "how far has he gotten?"

"About halfway, he's been able to concentrate a lot easier with you tied to a tree," Max answered.

"He's got to calm down a little."

"Tell me about it."

Kat glanced at Max, and then at Abigail. She didn't like how easily the small talk between them was going. "Um, Steel? Recap? She betrayed all of us, sent Berto to the med bay, had you captured by Dread, who happens to be her grandfather? Ring any bells here?!"

"She's not so bad," Max answered, still looking at Abigail, his voice sounding a little emptier than usual.

"Dammit, Steel! Snap out of it!" Kat took off one of her boots and threw it at Max's head. It hit its target, and then flew off into the brush.

"Max, go get that," Abigail ordered.

"Max, stay there!" Kat yelled.

Max didn't move for a second or so, and then got up and went after the shoe.

"How are you doing that?!" Kat raged.

"Why? Jealous?"

"No."

"You know, Kat, you're not that bad."

"Gee, thanks," Kat replied sarcastically.

"Seriously, we could be friends. Which side you fight for is just a minor aspect..."

"Save it," Kat yawned, "been there, done that, not interested."

"Too bad," Abigail said, as Max reentered the clearing, holding Kat's boot.

"Kat? Why am I holding your boot?"

"Welcome back, Steel. Have a nice nap?"

"What? Did I fall asleep or something?"

"No, you were just listening to her again!" Kat yelled, pointing at the redhead sitting tied to the tree.

"Oh," Max stared down at his feet, something he was doing a lot lately, and which Kat was personally sick of."

"Just sit down," she said pulling her boot back on.

Max sat down, and after a withering glare from Kat, Abigail was silent. The three of them sat there in silence, until Kat suddenly jumped up and started slapping at her left foot. "AHHH!"

Berto looked up as Kat took off her left boot and hurled it across the clearing. "Kat! What's wrong?!"

"FUCKING ANTS!!!!!!"

Max and Berto jumped up as they saw the red ants swarming over Kat's foot.

"I've got to get to water! Don't take your eyes off her!" Kat yelled as she took off running.

"Tough luck," Abigail smirked. "Now, Max, untie me."

Berto watched in horror as Max kneeled on the ground and undid the knotted vines holding Abigail captive. "Max! What are you doing?!" He ran and tried to pull Max back, but all he did was slow him down for a few seconds.

Abigail got up and massaged her wrists. "Save it, Berto. Now, go and tune the transmitter into channel 11. You'll know you're there when you hear classical music coming out."

"No way! KAT!!" Berto yelled for the other member of Team Steel, but at the same time realized that he had no hopes of being heard over the racket of tree frogs and birds.

"Berto, you will tune into channel 11 right now, or I'll simply instruct Max here to go for a little swim in the quicksand pit. Got it?"

Berto hesitated, and then admitted defeat as he saw the blank look in Max's eyes. "You definitely failed the test, Hermano," he muttered as he fiddled around with an antenna on the metallic contraption. Once he heard the sound of classical music, he handed over the makeshift microphone to Abigail.

"Thank you, now stay there." Abigail kept her eyes on Berto as she communicated their coordinates to the operator back at the DREDD base, and completed the transmission. Fifteen minutes later, Kat had still not returned, and an aircraft not unlike Behemoth landed in the clearing. The door opened, and Psycho clambered out.

"Ready to go, your highness?" he growled.

"Yes, thank you. Hope your arm is feeling well," Abigail replied sweetly. She looked at Berto and jerked her head to the ship. "Let's go, in."

"I'm not going in there!"

Abigail sighed. "Psycho, would you mind?"

Psycho, surprised at not being addressed as a household appliance, held the door for Abigail and Max, then walked over, hoisted a struggling Berto over his shoulder, and boarded the craft, storing the youngest member of Team Steel in an overhead compartment, and then sat down across from Abigail and Max, buckling his seatbelt.

_To be continued..._


End file.
